Past Exhibit
Paul Taylor - Themes and Variations
January 19 - March 16, 2008
Creative work utilizing arcane, historic, & contemporary photographic processes.
85 Avenue A at Third Street - Downtown Turners Falls, Massachusetts
About Themes and Variations & Paul Taylor
Themes and Variations is an exhibition of work selected from several of the diverse photographic series that Mr. Taylor has executed over the past twenty years. Running through these projects can be found a sometimes dark, foreboding and enigmatic vision, while at other times he provides the viewer with an almost childlike visual simplicity of joyous discovery and revelation.
Paul has written, "I create images that reflect the history, culture, and mystery of the places and objects that I photograph. The work is about beauty, the beauty of light, the beauty of the landscape, and the beauty of the photographic process."
Among the Themes in this, his first single-person museum exhibition, are: "Cappadocia", "The Sun", "Pigeons" and "Byzantine Marks". All of these projects were executed since 2002; the original camera exposures made while working under the patronage of an American living in Turkey. Silver-gelatin and photogravure prints were later made at his studio in Ashuelot, NH.
Of these four projects, Paul says: "The first body of work I photographed in Turkey consisted of landscapes created using the wet plate collodian process. The intense physicality of hauling large format equipment and a portable darkroom through the countryside, combined with the mystical and often surreal landscape, provided an intimacy and understanding of place that I have attempted to convey in these images. Repeat visits to Turkey gave birth to the images of the sun, pigeons and the soot-charred interiors of Byzantine monasteries."
"Intentionally, my images often give no clues as to the locality in which they are photographed but are unique to the history and culture of the region. As important as the act of photographing was, the insights gained through interactions with the local inhabitants, and the study of Turkish history, culture and local customs, became a critical component of the work."
Paul Taylor received his MFA from Rhode Island School of Design in 1986. He has returned there as a teacher and lecturer in the Print Making Department frequently.
For the past twenty-plus years, Paul has operated Renaissance Press, a fine art atelier concentrating on photogravure print making and maintained his own studio in Ashuelot, NH. His gravure clients have included numerous publishers, photographers and visual artists of international note. Among them: Kenro Izu, Linda Conner, Aaron Siskind, Tom Baril, Duane Michaels, Joel Peter Witkin, Carrie May Weems, Debbie Fleming Caffrey and John Dugdale. More recently, he has launched a digital print-making studio, in Brattleboro, Vermont, under the name of Renaissance Press Digital.
Mr. Taylor has most recently exhibited his photographs at Spheris Gallery, Hanover, NH, and Dianich Gallery, Brattleboro, VT. Following his HMCP exhibition, he will hold a spring exhibition at Reeves Contemporary Gallery, New York, NY.
View pictures from the Artist’s Reception